Bruce Banner, The Man Behind The Hulk, The Little Details
by gryffindortrekkie13
Summary: The team reflects on little idiosyncrasies and behaviors of their own Dr. Banner. They realize that there is much more beneath the surface.
1. Chapter 1

Bruce Banner – Little Details

Natasha was the first one that noticed Bruce's style of dressing. Bruce was well-liked on the team, being the peacemaker and sensible mind among the chaotic brains of Tony and Thor. Bruce, similar to Clint and her, liked to wear dark colors that blended into the background. Unlike them however he usually wore dress pants and button-up dress shirts. His style contrasted nicely with the tuxedos and elegant suits of Tony. She had seen Bruce dress up a few times and thought that the scientist always looked a little out of his element at the fancy dinners and conferences that all the Avengers were supposed to attend. Bruce was always seen in the lab with Tony, sometimes with a white coat but always in his dark colors of purple, black, gray, and navy. Natasha thought that Bruce's style in clothes seemed to reflect his personality. He was also a big fan of sweaters and pullovers. Always neutral colors though, nothing bold. Those few times after hulking out she remembered seeing Bruce always managing to find a presentable button-up shirt to put on. She had never once seen him wear a bright color. There had been a few select times where she had seen him moderately relaxed, with the top buttons open of his shirt and his sleeves rolled up. He usually never relaxed and was always tense and strung up. Natasha, as a seasoned assassin was trained to notice even the slight little details. Over time she found herself admiring her fellow teammate's dressing habits. It seemed like Bruce liked the things he could control, as there were so many things that he couldn't control. He never once wore green, she had seen his physically recoil at the color. It reminded him of the Other Guy so her and the rest of the team tried their best to remove most of the green from their surroundings and from their own clothes. Tony would always try to get his friend into the suits that he always wore and Bruce would gently push him away saying that he liked his simple clothes. Tony being Tony liked flashy things and Bruce was the opposite. Tony was like the cool, modern uncle and Bruce was like the humble funny uncle. She had to say that so far, she was liking Bruce a tiny bit more than Tony. Not that she would ever tell him that of course.

Clint was the one that noticed Bruce's tendency to drink enormous amounts of tea. Every morning, every time something challenging came up in his studies, every evening, all the time. Clint was always the first one up in the morning without fail and witnessed Bruce stumbling in every morning, his shirt rumpled and his hair messily combed, blearily sticking a cup of water in the microwave. He would mumble a hello to Clint and proceed to make his usual black tea with copious amounts of sugar. He would often be seen curled in a chair balancing a cup of steaming tea and a book in the other. He would sit there for hours as each member of the team passed through the room. Steve would sometimes sit with Bruce, reading an old newspaper, legs stretched out in front of him and Tony would walk in commenting to Steve that nobody read newspapers anymore and Bruce would give a tiny snort of laughter, not even looking up from his book. Clint observed the doctor slash scientist a lot from the shadows and often considered joining him. He noticed that whenever Bruce was working in the lab he would have a thermos of tea with him and with take long droughts of it even if it was burning hot. Several times Clint had visited Bruce's room and there would always be a bunch of empty tea cups sitting on the night table next to a pile of worn looking books. He also noticed that whenever Bruce was having a rough day or having trouble controlling the Other Guy he would head straight to the kitchen and calm down with one of his usual cups of black tea. The man was a picture of tranquility whenever he sat under the light of a lamp in the late evening and no one would bother him. Clint decided that tonight he would try Bruce's method of relaxing and join his friend with a cup of tea. He too had his inner demons to conquer.

Bruce was always tired, Steve noticed. Steve was naturally very observant but has just started to notice Bruce's eternal fatigue. He always had dark eye bags and a tired look in his eyes. He would be most tired after fighting, more than the others because of his molecular angry transformation. It took a lot out of him and Steve noticed that the doctor slash scientist would always take care of others regardless of his physical and mental state. He would always be the last one to go to sleep, before Clint of course, and was usually the first one up. Steve wondering if he had trouble sleeping because of the Other Guy. Bruce constantly thought that he was a danger to the group and the world and Steve remembered Tony taking a long time to convince the man to move into the Avenger's Tower. Bruce was a remarkably good actor and was good at disguising his injuries and tiredness. Bruce used energy all day, emotionally and physically by withholding the Other Guy and keeping his emotions under strict control. Steve knew that Bruce was a big fan of tea and that probably served a sleeping assist. He also knew that a long time ago Bruce had tried to kill himself by putting a bullet in his mouth before the Other Guy stepped in. The entire team was so used to the tired and weary look in Bruce's eyes that they didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Steve as the leader worried about his friend's health and stability. He trusted Bruce though and knew that every member of the team had their issues with sleeping and themselves. Bruce could take care of himself but Steve just hoped that he knew when to reach out to his friends and teammates.

It was Tony who noticed Bruce's perpetual humility. Bruce was the humblest man he had ever known and was outstandingly modest always. Tony, as the genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist couldn't understand why Bruce had no confidence in himself. Tony despite being remarkably self-obsessed noticed things about his teammates, naturally. Bruce, being one of his closest friends knew the most about Tony and Tony probably knew the most about him. Whenever they were at a public event or a conference Bruce would slide into the background and let Tony and Steve do the talking. He would sit and listen thoughtfully and hardly ever stated his opinion or made a comment. On the red carpet, he would unconsciously step into the back of the group. Tony had never once heard his friend brag about himself, or talk about himself, or say anything with pride in his voice, except when he was talking about his team. He always downplayed himself, maybe it was because of his fear of the Other Guy, or because of his concern for everyone always. Bruce was a quiet man. Thoughtful and introverted, so unlike Tony himself. Bruce was a genius, people tended to forget that as Tony often overshadowed Bruce uncontrollably. The more Tony thought about it, the more he realized how many people forgot about Bruce and focused on the showy faces of Steve, the golden captain, Thor with his godliness, Clint and Natasha with their sharp assassin facades and Tony with his, well, everything. Hulk was more famous than Bruce was and Tony couldn't imagine how Bruce could live with that. Then again Bruce hated the Other Guy. Tony remembered countless times that they all had been interviewed and overhearing most of Bruce's interview. It was short and brief and Bruce was only asked about Hulk and Hulk's ability. Tony remembered watching Bruce answer the questions politely with a hint of resignation and weariness, a forced smile plastered on his face. The reporter had hurried after only a few minutes, rushing to catch Thor, joining a gaggle of other annoying reporters and cameramen. Tony felt a flash of anger at the injustice faced at his friend and frustration at Bruce's antics and personality. He made a mental note to talk to Steve about this issue.

Later that day during a majestic banquet containing some America's greatest politicians and secretaries some very important guy decided to make a toast to the protection of the Avengers. He started off with listing all the recent accomplishments of the team and went on to describe each team member. Steve Rogers Captain America, Thor, Clint Barton Hawkeye, Natasha Romanoff Black Widow, Tony Stark Ironman, and stated Hulk at the very end. Tony felt his anger instantly flare and held up his hand and shouted. The man speaking stopped abruptly. Tony made his way through the crowd and took the microphone and proceeded to explain that Bruce Banner was the Hulk. That there would be no Hulk without Bruce and that there would be no Avengers without Bruce and that they would have lost the battle of New York without help from the Hulk, he proceeded to list all of Bruce's scientific accomplishments and his thoughts about how astounded he is that Bruce doesn't get more attention because of being Bruce. The crowd was silent and the speaker looked shocked. Tony concluded his speech with lifting his arm and toasting to Bruce Banner. Now, Bruce was just standing there glancing down at the floor abashedly, his hands in his pockets, like a teenager being embarrassed by his parents. Clint shifted over and placed an arm around the doctor slash scientist's shoulders, a grin on his face and one by one the rest of the Avengers went over to stand by Bruce, mumbling their agreement with Tony. Bruce's face had a peculiar expression on his face. It was a mix of embarrassment, modesty, and surprisingly pride. It was such an unusual emotion to see on Bruce's face that Tony and the rest were beaming uncontrollably. There was an awkward silence after Tony finished speaking and Bruce glanced up and said thanks to Tony. From then on, the rest of the team went out of their way to make Bruce feel appreciated and important to their team, because he was.


	2. Chapter 2

It was Clint and Steve who first noticed Bruce's love for _Friends_. It was one random day, when Clint and Steve had been randomly flipping through channels while crashing on the couch, Bruce had been reading, with his glasses on, a cup of steaming tea besides him. Clint had decided to show Steve more about modern television and what there was to offer, that could potentially be entertaining and worth watching. They flipped through the sports channels, and the romantic dramas and stupid cartoons when…

"Stop, wait." Said Bruce, his voice urgent. Clint paused on some on some movie, and glanced at the scientists confusedly.

"No, back more."

Clint flipped back until Bruce stopped him on the familiar figures of Rachel, Joey and Phoebe. Clint felt a peculiar feeling of familiarity, he used to watch this show all the time, but hadn't seen it in a while after he had been recruited. Bruce was staring at the screen, his mouth curling upwards slightly as his book lay forgotten in his lap. A few seconds later Bruce was laughing, chuckles and snorts coming out of his mouth. Clint and Bruce stared at him in awe. Bruce was never seen laughing…he had such a reserved and patient personality that they had never really seen him display any open signs of happiness or amusement. Sure, he laughed at some of Clint's jokes and Tony's wisecracks but this was different. It was like he was transformed, he was the picture of relaxation, sleeves rolled up and shirt open, his feet clad in socks and his face contorted in laughter. One would never even consider him as becoming a big green angry monster. Clint and Steve exchanged a bewildered glance as Bruce laughed more than they had even seen him.

"Whoa what did you guys do to him?" came the slightly confused voice of Tony as he entered the room.

"I don't know." Said Steve, running a hand through his hair as he threw a glance at Tony. "But go away before you ruin it."

"Sorry guys." Said Bruce a little breathlessly, looking more amused than he had in ages. "I used to watch this when I was a kid."

This was odd, thought Clint, Bruce never talked about his childhood. It was unusual for him to share a piece of information and at this point they were staring at him again, his face turned to the screen a fond expression on his face.

"I used to watch it too." Said Clint

"It got me through some tough times…" said Bruce, glancing at them, the screen reflected in his eyes, making them glow oddly in the dim light. "Good old Chandler, I've never related to a character more. Could I BE any more like him." Bruce laughed at the end of his sentence as he imitated Chandler. Clint and Steve both decided at that moment to watch _Friends_ as much as possible, just for Bruce.

It was Natasha who noticed Bruce's talent for cooking. The Avengers were a big team, with big men like Steve and Clint and Thor, all of which had big appetites. So, it was only natural that one of them would step up to cook. They were all surprised when they arrived back at the Tower from a particularly difficult and discovered Bruce alone in the kitchen, maneuvering through the pans and pots that were steaming, an array of vegetables and food on the counter. They had been one of the best meals that they had eaten in a while. Bruce looked comfortable in the kitchen, easily conjuring up a team members' favorite meals if one of them had a rough day. Natasha wasn't sure what they would have done without him. Along with being a cook Bruce was the doctor of the team, taking care of each one of them. He cared for their injuries, and listened to their problems, he could have been a psychologist by the wise advice he gave. Regardless of being the Hulk he had a great set of skills in the kitchen. There had been several incidents, Bruce after hulking out, would have a rough night sleeping and Natasha would stumble upon him in the kitchen, having sleeping problems herself, and would often discover him in the kitchen, quietly bending over a stir-fry or a pot of pasta swimming in sauce. Natasha knew that Bruce was a simple man, and disliked being fawned upon or being under too much attention, but she couldn't help but feel a sort of affection towards him. He had several endearing qualities that had endeared him to the team and there was absolutely no doubt about his position on the team anymore.


End file.
